Ms Power is the latest high-profile member to quit Fianna Fáil and has revealed a number of elected and unelected Fianna Fail members have turned on her.

The Dublin native, who is now in the Seanad as an Independent, says the correspondence she has received is not only personally upsetting, but will put other people off joining the party.

"I think the nastiness of it is not only hurtful on a personal level, of course it's going to put others off," she told Independent.ie.

"People who I thought were friends to be out attacking me. I guess the way they see it is that my resignation looks bad for the party and maybe they think it will cost them support in their constituency.

"They're rallying around the cause for that and putting the knives out for me with their own political interests. I think that's sad."

Several members of the party’s front bench strongly criticised Ms Power after she launched a blistering attack on Micheal Martin’s leadership.

Ms Power also accused the party of not canvassing for a Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum and said that Mr Martin was not an effective leader or fit for government.

The Fianna Fail leader responded, saying that her comments were “nasty, vindictive, disingenuous and unfair”.

She said that Fianna Fáil is a party in crisis and that it has been for some time.

"When I got home from doing my last television interview yesterday I had 700 emails, hundreds of texts and tweets from other party members, from former Oireachtas members and current councillors of the party telling me that they share my view," she said.